There is colour in the garden and much noise and colour in the trees as the birds celebrate and get together.

That is what inspired my make!

When I buy ink pads I often buy a reinker!

I'm going to share with you what I enjoy doing with my reinkers!

For this piece I have used Distress Ink reinkers and watercolour paper.

Frequently I work with A3 size papers as this gives me lots to play with.

To begin I wet the paper thoroughly and then I trail the first colour across the page.

The second colour gets a good spray too and the inks begin to pool and run.

I keep adding colour - three colours that are close together in value work well.

Hint - Don't use complementary colours, unless you want mud!

By now the paper will be very wet. Take a second piece of the watercolour paper and lay it over the first to soak up the extra colour. Be gentle and don't press too hard.

Walk away and let both pieces dry. At about this point you just may want to make a few other papers so keep your inks out! It's fun!

For this make I cut the paper up and I stamped and embossed a piece with Carabelle Studio Stamps.

I then went back into the paper and applied more distress ink with a waterbrush.

A little Perfect Pearls was brushed across a couple of the stamped images to add a shimmer.

Then lots of decision making began.

I took an old cork backed placemat. I liked the colours on the image and so I left it all there.

I began to create a border with Prima Mixed Media stamps, Archival Ink and Wendy Vecchi Embossing powder.

Out came some fabric scraps and some Time To Create Handmade Treasure.

These embellishments are a different treatment of watercolour paper.

I take a little time here in the process to audition the placement of the piece until I am happy.

I've been waiting for just the right moment to use this weathered and beat up frame which came from the tip. The project had bloomed so I gave the carved frame a really good clean and brushed the heavily carved design with a paint brush. From the look of it this frame had been unloved for a long time.

But look at it now! Using a couple of colours of acrylic paint and Viva Decor Inka Gold I built up the colours and the patina. I kept wiping the colour back until I was happy and then finished with black acrylic sponged over the top of the carved design. This was wiped then with an almost dry sponge.

For protection and finish I then wiped wax all over the frame. I let it dry and then polished with a soft cloth.

The central panel was affixed with Liquid Nails. This was weighted by a heavy book and left to dry.

Now, as I said, there are reinkers for every ink pad.

I tend to buy those of the colours I know I'm going to use the most.

I hope you drag any you have out and play.

You will need to experiment with what will dilute the inks and also how to best move the colour around.

Saturday, 1 August 2015

August already...and time for another challenge, but first we have some sad and good news.Sadly we are losing Stefanie, she has decided to step down from the team...we are sorry to lose her....Good News.....Welcome Toni, she has recently joined our team and you will be able to see her projects as from September...in the mean time,why not pop over to her blog here at Studio Garage Bandand see her fabulous creations.....

We still have a vacancy on our design team,so if you are interested,do let me know...details are under our header.

Many Thanks to Laila for being our guest designer for July, be sure to take your Guest Designer Badge Laila.

Thank You to Everyone who entered our challenge...so many projects and each one so different...so much talent to look at and get inspired from.
Wish we could make you all winners...unfortunately we can only have one. It's teamie Elaine's turn to choose the Winner for July and she has chosen....

No.45....Branka

Congratulations Branka...such a stunning entry....Please take your Winners Badge from our side bar to display on your own blog.
We would love to have you as our Guest Designer for September...so if you are interested please email me ( Sandie ) here at sandie.w@live.co.uk so I can let you know what you need to do.

I am relatively new to mixed media and challenge blogs. Back in April 2014 my husband bought me a couple of canvases and an acrylic paint set for my birthday. I wasn't thrilled about it at first. When I was younger I drew, painted, and crafted all the time but at age 17 I broke both of my arms, and never got back into my art because I couldn't use my left hand/wrist like normal. I gave up my art. So when I saw the art supplies my husband bought me I figured I would give it a go just to make him happy. Boy was he (and I) in for a huge surprise when I finished my first piece. At the time, I loved my first piece but kept thinking that I could improve and I like to believe that I have improved by leaps and bound due to the challenge blogs that I found and also because of the wonderfully talented and supportive people I have found in Blog land. You all make me challenge myself every time I create something and I just want to say thank you very much for that. Be sure to check out Niki's blog...you can find it here..Pawsitively Creative

As always our very talented team have been busy creating some stunning projects for your inspiration...do pop over and leave the girls some love....and be sure to check back on the 15th August for Julie's Mid Month Tutorial....